updates – Page 2

Microsoft will offer three years of Android and security updates for the Surface Duo 2.

A company representative confirmed the update promise to Android Authority following the unveiling of its newest Surface smartphone.

“We are committed to providing three years of OS and security updates,” the representative said.

It should come as good news to anyway planning to pick up a Surface Duo 2, although it’s disappointing Microsoft isn’t planning to offer longer support for such an expensive device. Three years is starting to become the minimum expectation as other smartphone makers like Samsung push to four years of security updates and Apple goes much further (the company’s iOS 15 upgrade supports 2015’s iPhone 6S and 6S Plus).

It’s also worth noting that Microsoft’s update promise matches the one it made about the original Surface Duo. Unfortunately, update speed is something the company will need to work on — it only just announced the Duo would get Android 11 by the end of 2021. Android 12 is expected to launch in October.

Ultimately, my concern is that this indicates software may continue to be an issue for the Duo 2. It was undoubtedly a problem for the Duo. Microsoft seems to have fixed many of the Duo’s hardware problems with the Duo 2 (at least, they have on paper), but if it can’t get software in order, the Duo 2 may be a really tough sell at $1,899.

Source: Android Authority

With iOS 15 rolling out to Apple devices, apps are starting to get updates and support new features from the upgrade. That includes Google’s apps — the search giant detailed some of the changes heading to its software for iOS 15.

First up, Google updated its apps to work with the new ‘Focus mode’ in iOS 15. The company shared a few examples of how this works in practice. For one, Google Maps will still push through important notifications, such as navigation. Similarly, Google’s Home app will still send essential notifications, such as if someone’s at the door. Google Tasks will also ignore Focus mode for notifications tied to a specific time.

However, notifications that aren’t urgent will head to the iOS Notification Center when users are in Focus mode.

Another significant (and welcome) change is better Spotlight support for YouTube Music. Users can now search for songs or artists in Spotlight and jump straight into the YouTube Music app to listen to the music. Google says that Drive will also get better with Spotlight but didn’t detail any specific improvement.

And for iPadOS 15, Google confirmed that it’s bringing larger versions of its widgets for Apple tablets that should play nice on big screens.

That’s all Google outlined in its blog post. Overall, no massive changes, but definitely some welcome quality of life improvements for those who use the iPhone or iPad but rely on Google’s services.

Source: Google